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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Federal officials have charged 91 people with filing about $430 million in fraudulent Medicare claims, the Department of Justice said Thursday. The fraudulent claims were filed in seven cities, most notably Houston, where seven defendants filed $158 million in false claims. Back in May, 107 people were charged with making $452 million in false billings, with $137 million of those claims out of Miami. In September 2011, another 91 people were charged with filing $295 million in fraudulent claims.

12:22PM

Oil futures extend gains above $90 a barrel
(
CLX2
)
by Carla Mozee

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures extended gains in Thursday afternoon trade, rising above $90 a barrel, as the Syrian-Turkish conflict raised concerns about supply from the Middle East. Crude for November delivery
(clx2)
climbed $2.27, or 2.3%, to $90.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The move cut into its 4.1% drop in the previous session, when oil was pressured by technical selling and worries about demand.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Consol Energy Corp.
(cnx)
rose 4.6% and Peabody Energy
(btu)
advanced by 3.8% as the two coal producers ranked near the top of the leaders list among components of the S&P 500
($spx)
on Thursday. Analysts at Global Hunter Securities said coal fundamentals could recover sooner than expected as natural gas prices rise. "With transportation costs, coal is now...cost competitive with natural gas for power generation," analysts said. "The industry has seen utilities switching back to coal when natural gas hit $3 per million British thermal units." Natural gas prices have risen 69% from a multi-year low of $1.90 per million British thermal units in April. Any uptick in natural gas toward $4 per million British thermal units "would be good news for thermal coal," analysts said. In recent trades, natural gas futures
(ngx12)
dipped a penny to $3.38 per million British thermal units.

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Netflix Inc.
(nflx)
shares were up 6.2% Thursday on the heels of an 11% gain in the previous session. Late Tuesday, Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney reiterated a buy rating on the online video provider. Broadcast network ratings have generally been soft early in the 2012-13 television season, perhaps suggesting to some investors that a partial shift to online video viewing -- one of the reasons cited for a decline in ratings last season -- could be benefiting Netflix. In an e-mail on Thursday, B. Riley & Co. analyst Eric Wold said he knew of no catalyst beyond the Citigroup note that would explain the stock's ongoing advance. He reiterated his bear case on the shares, saying "additional competition is coming into the market as content becomes ubiquitous and NFLX faces pressure on subscriber growth against a fixed streaming cost basis." Wold has a sell rating on the stock, with a $50 price target.

11:44AM

MetroPCS moderate losses on Sprint rumor
(
PCSS
)
by Dan Gallagher

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Shares of MetroPCS
(pcs)
reversed course somewhat on Thursday morning, moderating from an earlier loss of nearly 9%, following a report that Sprint
(s)
was considering making a counter-bid for the pre-paid wireless carriers. MetroPCS announced on Wednesday that it agreed to merge with T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom. A report from Bloomberg on Thursday morning said Sprint was "in the early stages" of evaluating a potential counter-offer, according to three unnamed sources "familiar with the offer." Sprint had been speculated as an earlier bidder for MetroPCS, and the merger with T-Mobile is widely seen as putting the wireless carrier at a disadvantage in the market. MetroPCS shares were last trading down 1% at $12.10.

10:49AM

MetroPCS shares fall on Nomura downgrade
(
PCS
)
by Dan Gallagher

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Shares of MetroPCS
(pcs)
slid nearly 9% to $11.17 on Thursday morning after Nomura Securities downgraded the stock to a "reduce," or sell, rating. In a note to clients, analyst Mike McCormack said the company's pending merger with T-Mobile USA that was announced yesterday does not fix problems related to marketing and branding for T-Mobile. "This merger brings the complexity of managing multiple networks on multiple technologies, transitioning both customer bases to 4G LTE, refarming spectrum, and harmonizing rate plans and distribution strategies," he wrote. He noted that the merger deal "values MetroPCS at a market multiple" without a premium for losing control of the company, as the combined entity will be run by T-Mobile executives. "The special dividend does not change this view as the cash always belonged to PCS shareowners."

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- With no other bidders emerging to buy its coffee business, Peet's Coffee & Tea
(peet)
set Oct. 26 as the date shareholders can vote to approve its $1 billion deal with private investment group Joh. A. Benckiser. Peet's shareholders will get $73.50 a share in cash for each share they own under the terms of the buyout. Peet's board is unanimously recommending its stockholders OK the deal announced July 23. Investors had bid up Peet's stock over the deal price for weeks following the deal, believing a higher offer would materialize. In Thursday morning trading, Peet's shares rose 5 cents to $73.45.

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